Coupling device for toy trains



Feb. 1, 1938. J. BONANNO COUPLING DEVICE FOR TOY TRAINS Filed May 51,1935 '7 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN'VENTOR L BON/i/ VNO.

cfsEp/r ATTORNEY Feb. 1, 1938.

J. L. BONANNO COUPLING DEVICE FOR TOY TRAINS Fi-led May 31, 1955 7Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR M5551 L. flolvA/v/vo.

ATTORNEY Feb 1, 1938 J. L BONANNO 2,107,024 I COUPLING DEVICE FOR TOYTRAINS Filed May 31, 1955 I 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 v Q0 g A; INVENTOR g M5551BO/VA/V/VO Feb. 1, 1938.

J. L. BONANNO COUPLING DEVICE FOR TOY TRAINS Filed May 3]., 1935 7SheetS-Shet 4 RM R 3i INVENTOR JOSEPH L.B0NANN0 ATTORNEY Feb. 1, 193 8.J L BQNANNQ 2,107,024

COUPLING DEVICE FOR TQY TRAINS Filed May 31, 1955 7 Sheets-Sheet s I) HV 55 56 2/ 55 452. 1-

mi, 9 u %.1 14 t min m lmmlil" INVENTOR C/ZDSEPH A. BOA/ANNO.

ATTORNEY- Feb. 1, 1938.

. J. L. BONAN NO COUPLING DEVICE FOR TOY TRAINS Filed May 3l 1955 7Sheets-Sheet 6' INVENTOR Joseph L. Bananno ATTORNEY Feb. 1, 1938. 'J.BONANNO COUPLING DEVICE FOR TOYTRAINS .A I 7 Sheets-Sheet '7 Filed Ma:51, 1935 INVENTOR Joseph L. Bonanno v BY ' WATTORNEY Patented Feb. 1,1938 UNITED STATES FATENT OFFICE COUPLING DEVICE FOR TOY TRAINS JosephL. Bonanno, Forest Hills, N. Y., assignor to The Lionel Corporation, NewYork, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 31, 1935, SerialNo. 24,406

11 Claims. (01. 213-74) The present invention relates to coupling de-Other and further objects of the invention Will vices for toy cars andis more particularly appear as the description proceeds. directed towardcoupling devices having means The accompanying drawings show, forpurposes for automatically positioning them so that couof illustratingthe present invention, several empling can automatically take place oneither bodiments in which the invention may take form,

straight or curved track. it being understood that the drawings areillus- The coupling devices in common use on toy trative of theinvention rather than limiting the cars are pivoted to the car body andmust be same. In these drawings: manually aligned before the car bodiescould be Fig. 1 is an inverted plan view illustrating a 10. moved towardone another to effect a coupling form of automatic coupler swingablymounted on operation. This has made it impossible to couple the cartruck, the cars here shown having four cars or cars and locomotives bymerely pushing Wheel trucks, one car being on straight track,

them together. and the other car on curved track forming part Accordingto the present invention, the couof the same track layout; 16 plingdevices are so arranged that when the car Fig. 2 is a View similar toFigure 1 illustrating traverses either straight or curved track the twosimilar cars both on curved track; coupling devices are automaticallypositioned so Fig. 3 is a View similar to Figure 1 illustrating as tomeet a similar coupling device carried by two similar cars on S-shapedtrack; another car. Fig. 4 is a view illustrating a car with six wheelThe present invention also contemplates that trucks disposed on S-shapedtrack, and diagram- 20 the mechanism for effecting the positioning ofmatically illustrates the path of the coupler head the coupler shallinclude a laterally flexible or as the car proceeds along such track;yieldable spring member, preferably made out of Fig. 5 is an invertedplan view illustrating wire, which will bend whenever it is necessary todifierent length cars with six wheel trucks travelhave the coupler movefrom the position in which ling on curved track; 25

it would normally be placed by reason of the Fig. 6 is a view similar toFigure 1 showing a alignment of the track on which-the car isrestcomparatively long car on narrow gage track; ing. Thesedisplacements may take place when Fig. '7 is a view similar to Figure 6showing a the cars are passing from straight to curved track couplerarrangement suitable for short cars on or when they are passing aboutS-shaped track. narrow gage track; 30 The provision of the flexibleconnection makes it Fig. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view throughpossible for the coupler heads to shift laterally two cars showingcoupling devices designed for from their normal position withoutimposing subfour wheel and six wheel cars joined or coupled stantialside forces on the trucks, and therefore together; the trucks are notderailed even though the Fig. 9 is an enlarged sectional View showing a35 coupling devices are shifted from the normal posidetail of thecoupler head of Figure 3; tion- Fig. 10 is a top plan view of thecoupler head; Toy trains arefirdmarily constructedto Figs. 11 and 12 aresectional views taken on erate on e ther wide gage track or narrow gagethe lines and respectively f traclc and in each case the cars employedare of Figure 9; 40 varymg length The Spacmg between the trucks Fig. 13is an inverted plan view showing a car on a car and the spacing betweenadjacent trucks on two cars are therefore variable, and for satisif iffour gl g i 1 g ggg with factory coupling the parts should bedimensioned i 8 f ers p v e and centers located so that the truckswinging 14 15 an enlarged Sectional on t 3 me relative to the car bodywill be efiective to place of Figure 13; 45 the coupling mechanism i thsame position Fig. 15 is a perspective view illustrating the relative tothe rails for all cars intended to be Coupler head ShOWIl in Figure 13 nide a capable of automatic coupling. In all cases it is coupler incommon use with which the present preferable to have the coupler headsat the automatic couplers a p e 130 cooperate; 50

standard height of other toy railroad cars of the Fig. 16 is anelevational view, with parts in same gage, and to design them so as toaccept longitudinal section, showing the coupling toother forms ofcouplers so that the cars equipped gether of two cars by means ofcouplers such as with the new form of coupler may be employed in shownin Figures 13 to 15;

trains having cars not so equipped. Fig. 17 is a top plan view of thestructure shown 55 in Figure 16, parts being broken away, the cars beingplaced on curved track;

Fig. 18 is a Vertical sectional View taken on the line lB-JB of Figure17;

Fig. 19 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line l9-l8 of Figure18;

Fig. 20 is an inverted plan view of the coupler and car constructionshown in Figure 16;

Fig. 21 is a diagrammatic illustration of the couplers shown in Figures14 to 18; and

' Figs. 22 to 24 are diagrammatic illustrations of further modificationsof coupler construction.

In Figures 1 to 3, two wheel bearing rails, of a toy railroad track areindicated at Illa and Iflb. For clearness the third or power rail isomitted. These rails may be straight or curved in one direction orcurved in two directions as indicated in the drawings and willordinarily form parts of interchangeable straight and curved track unitssuch as ordinarily used in toy railroads. The radius of curvature of thecurved sections is usually a constant.

In each of these three figures two cars designated II and I2 areillustrated. These cars have four wheel trucks indicated at l3 (andshown.

more in detail on the right of Figure 8). They are pivoted as indicatedat M to the bottom of the car body. The trucks are able to swingrelative to the car body in the usual manner and the relative positionsof the trucks and car bodies on various shapes of track will appear frominspection of the figures of the drawings. The trucks have extensions [5extending toward the adjacent end of the car body, but preferably notquite reaching to the end of the car body, and it will be apparent thatthese extensions swing bodily with at [8, and shown in detail in'Figures 8-12. The

opposite or inner ends of these coupler bars l6 are bent downwardly asindicated more clearly at H! (Figure 8), and apertured to receive alongitudinally extending member 20. This member is preferably made ofsteel wire so as to be flexible and is anchored in apertured clips 2|carried on the car bottom. To keep the Wire member in place, it ispreferably bent upwardly as indicated at 22 (Figure 8), and passedthrough a hole in the bottom of the car body.

In the arrangement shown in Figures 4' and 5 and at the left of Figure8, a design suitable for longer car bodies 25 and 25a is illustrated.These car bodies are generally provided with six wheel trucks 26.pivoted asindicated at 26'. The trucks have extensions 2"! correspondingwith the extensions l5, and coupler bars 28 are pivoted at 29 on theseextensions. 'The extensions and coupler bars may be provided with aseries of holes 29' as indicated so as to permit selection of the pivotpoint of these two parts in accordance anchorages 30, the pivot posts26' for the trucks, and through apertured eyes 32 carried by the rearends of the coupler bars 28. The free ends of the coupler bars 28 areprovided with coupler heads I8.

The arrangement shown in Figure 6 is designed for narrow gage tracks. Itemploys the same coupler bars l6 and coupler heads l8 which are used inthe wide gage cars of Figures 1-3. These coupler heads are pivoted. ontrucks I3 similar to the trucks l3 and are controlled by wire members29' fastened by anchorages 2| in substantially the same way as shown inFigure 1.

The arrangement shown in Figure 7 is designed for short narrow gage carsand here it is unnecessary to provide the yieldable spring for shiftingthe coupler heads. The coupler bars l6, similar to bars l6, are adjacentthe car bottom and are pivoted directly to the trucks 33 as indicated at39. They have an extension 39' which cooperates with an elongatedslot-39" on the car bottom. c

The coupler heads l8 are shown more clearly in Figures 8 to ,12inclusive. The coupler bar I6 (or 28) is bent downwardly as indicated at33 to provide a depressed portion 34. It is notched as indicated at 35,and bent down at the end as indicated at 35'. The depressed portion 34is slotted to receive a coupler hook 36. This couplerhook has an outercam 31 and an upwardly and rearwardly opening notch 31.

A latch member 40 has a top wall 40a and side.

walls 402; and 400 to receive the outer end of the coupler bar and has afront wall 40d to drop into the notch 31'. It is slotted as indicated atMe to receive a back member 4|. This member enters the notches 35 in thecoupler bar and prevents the latch from sliding lengthwise of thecoupler bar. There is, however, sufficient clearance between'the partsto permit the latch to swing as indicated in the dot and dash lines ofFigure 9. The lifting of the latch is accomplished by the cam surface3'lof another coupler hook, or it may be done manually. When the cars arepushed, the projecting ends 35' act as pushers, without any tendency tolift the coupler heads. These ends also allow suflicient motion of thecoupler head when the two cars are brought tightly together to enablethe operator to lift the head with a slight upward pressure of the-Figures 1, 2; and 3, and the coupler heads are over the center of thetrack, so that with the structures shown in Figures 1 to 3 inclusive,the cars may be brought toward one another and the coupler s heads willautomatically be placed in alignment so as to eifect automatic coupling.On the longer cars such as shown in Figures 4 and 5 the same relationprevails and automatic coupling takes place on straight track or onuniformly curved track. I

With a track layout such as shown in Figure 4 having an 8 curve and thena straight length of track (as shown at the right of this figure), thecoupler head l8 on long cars does not follow the center line of thetrack. The path of this coupler head is indicated by the heavy dash line42.

When the car passes through the reverse curve at the left, the locus ofthe path of the coupler head 18 departs from the center of the track asindicated at 42a, and then gradually returns to it when both trucks comeon to uniformly curving. track. When the leading truck comes on to thestraight track at the right of this figure the path of the coupler headagain departs from the ideal as indicated at 4219.

The ability of the spring members 20 and 3| to flex makes it possiblefor the coupler bar to swing out of the normal position and accommodateitself to any departures from this normal position without imposing onthe truck a substantial force. In this way it is possible for thecoupler bars to be shifted or swung as the cars proceed around thetracks through switches, reverse curves and the like without derailingthe trucks.

The latches 40 of the coupler heads are provided with laterallyextending ears 40f which prevent false coupling. This is illustrated inFigure 10. The dot and dash lines indicate a coupler approaching at animproper angle. The point of the hook member thereon engages the sidewall of the hook member shown in full lines, and the coupler at theright then moves to the left hand dotted line position. Here the ear fon the approaching coupler engages the end of the latch member 35 andthe pusher extensions 35 (or the adjacent ears of the coupler heads)come into contact and limit the amount the hook member can enter belowthe latch. The parts are so proportioned that the hook does not passunder the front Wall 4012 of the latch. The cars may push one anotherwhen the parts are in this position, but cannot pull one another. Shouldthe pushing be continued until the couplers are sufficiently aligned,the hooks will be brought in front of the openings and the latcheslifted as usual. The prevention of false coupling makes it certain thatthe couplers cannot be connected so as to be incapable of straighteningout, which would be the case if they were to couple when aligned as inFigure 10.

In the form of construction shown in Figiu'es 13 to 24 inclusive thecoupler bars are pivoted to the car body instead of carried by the truckas shown in Figures 1 to 12 inclusive.

In Figures 13 and 14 a car body is indicated at and two wheel trucks at5|. The trucks are pivoted to the floor of the car as indicated at 52.Coupler bars 53 are pivoted to the ends of the car body as indicated at54. These coupler bars have coupling heads 55 generally similar to thecoupling heads l8 shown in Figures 9 to 12. An apertured member 55 iscarried by the coupler bars at a point intermediate the pivoted pointand the coupler head. These members may conveniently be in the form ofswinging eyes.

A flexible wire member 51 has its free end passing through the eye 55.The flexible wire 51 passes through an apertured depending element 58carried by the truck. It extends into the car body as indicated at 59and may be held in a slotted ear 59a by a wire loop 59b.

In the constructions shown in Figures 16, 17 and 20, designed moreparticularly for longer cars having six wheel trucks, the parts arearranged substantially the same as in Figures 13 and 14 andcorresponding reference characters with a prime added are applied tocorresponding parts.

Figure 21 diagrammatically illustrates the operation of the couplersshown in Figures 13 to 20. The distance X is the amount to be absorbedby the spring elements and the looseness of'the parts when one car is onstraight track and the other on curved track. This is diagrammaticallyIn Figure 24 the coupler bars 10 are pivoted at- 15 and have pin andslot connections 16 with arms 11 pivoted at 18. The arms are yieldablyheld in mid-position by long wire springs 19.

It is obvious that the invention may be embodied in many forms andconstructions within the scope of the claims, and I wish it to beunderstood that the particular forms shown are but a few of the manyforms. Various modifications and changes being possible, I do nototherwise limit myself in anyway with respect thereto.

What is claimed is:

1. In a toy car, a car body, a car truck pivoted to the body to swingabout a vertical axis spaced from the end of the car body, a coupler barpivotally supported from one of said car parts toswing in a horizontalplane, and means responsive to the swinging of the car body relative tothe car truck for swinging the coupler bar in the same direction, saidmeans including a longitudinally extending laterally yieldable memberhaving one end secured to the car body, the other end being yieldable topermit lateral displacement of the coupler bar from the positionnormally determined by the angular relation of the car truck and carbody.

2. A toy car such as claimed in claim 1, wherein the yieldable member isin the form of a spring whose front end is slidably engaged by thecoupler bar.

3. A toy car such as claimed in claim 1, wherein the yieldable member isin the form of a spring which extends across the truck and has its frontend slidably engaged by the coupler bar.

4. A toy car such as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that thecoupler bar is pivoted to the truck, and in that the yieldable member isin the form of a spring having a free end slidably engaging the couplerbar.

5. A toy car such as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that thecoupler bar is pivoted to the truck, and in that the yieldable member isin the form of a spring which is secured to the car body at two pointsbehind the truck and has a free end extending across the truck andslidably engaging the coupler bar.

6. A toy car such as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that thecoupler bar is pivoted tothe truck and has a downwardly extendingapertured lug, and in that the yieldable member is in the form of aspring having a free end slidably engaging the apertured lug.

7. A toy car such as claimed in claim 1, where in the coupler bar ispivoted to the car body, the yieldable member has an end slidablyengaged with the coupler bar beyond the pivot support thereof, andwherein the intermediate portion of the yieldable member is coupled tothe truck to be swung thereby.

8. A toy car such as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that theyieldable member is in the form of a spring and the coupler bar ispivoted 'to the car body and is connected to the front end of the springat a point beyond the pivotal support thereof, and wherein the truck hasan eye to receive the intermediate portion of the spring,

and the anchorage of the spring is to the car body to the rear of thetruck. 7

' 9. In a track supported toy car, a body and a truck pivoted to thebody to swing about a vertical axis spaced from the ends of the car bodyand adapted to traverse the track, a dirigible coupler bar pivoted tosaid truck between the axis of the said truck and the adjacent end ofthe car body, the bar extending forwardly beyond the end of the carbodyand carrying a coupling device and rearwardly toward the truck axis,and a longitudinally extending flexible member anchored to the car bodyat one end and slidably secured to the coupler bar to control theposition of the rear end of the coupler bar whereby the coupler bar ispositioned according to the curvature of the track on which the truckbears, the flexible member being bendable when the couplingv device isforced laterally out of normal position.

10. In a toy car, in combination, a truck, a. body to which the truckisv pivoted, the truck having an extension toward the end of the car,body, a coupler bar pivoted to the extension and extendingforwardlybeyond the car body and rearwardly toward the truck axis, and alaterally yieldable, spring secured to the car body and having a freeend secured to the rear end of the coupler bar'to swing the coupler barrelative to the truck when the truck is swung relative to the car bodyand to permit lateral displacement of the forward end of the couplerbar.

11. In combination, a car body having a pivoted truck, a coupler barpivoted to the car body and having a coupler head projecting beyond thecar body, an eye carried by the coupler bar between the pivot andcoupler head, a flexible wire anchored to the car body behind the truckand extending across the truck to enter the eye, and a connectionbetween the truck and an intermediate portion of the wire to swing the,wire when the truck swings whereby the coupler is swung in the samedirection.

JOSEPH L. BONANNO.

